Ice Sculpture Contest
by Jedi Jelsa777
Summary: Gray enters an ice sculpting contest but when he can't seem to come up with an idea of what to carve, Juvia offers her assistance. Will this be a good idea? Or will he come to regret this decision?


**Plot idea provided by FTAnt!**

Gray stopped to look at the contest the winter festival was going to host and smiled as he saw that the one with the biggest prize money was right up his alley. The last day to sign up for it was today, he noticed, so he rushed over to where they were accepting entries and sighed up, a few who knew who he was and who had also just signed up groaned as he did so. They knew they were sunk as far as the Ice Sculpture Contest was concerned. The man who had handed him the form said "Come prepared with what you plan to do tomorrow, you'll only have thirty minutes to do it."

Gray nodded, thinking that this would be easy. Hours later, he seemed to be proven wrong by his own thought. He groaned as he asked no one in particular "Why is this so hard?" "Having trouble my love?" came the voice of Juvia directly behind him. Gray jumped, banging his knee on the table that he had been sitting at as Juvia started to profusely apologize. "It's alright Juvia. And not too much trouble, just trying to come up with an idea for the ice sculpting contest tomorrow."

"Perhaps I can help you, my love." Juvia said, her eyes wide with excitement. Gray was about to say no, but he paused for a moment. Much as it pained him to admit it, Juvia did have some pretty good ideas sometimes and she might just be able to help him with coming up with something that would really wow the judges. Reluctantly he said "Sure Juvia." Juvia squealed then sat down as close as possible next to him, though he scooted a little bit away from her as she said "I think we should make one of you!"

Gray looked at her as he said with a deadpan look "No." Juvia frowned, but sighed as she said "Fine." They tossed around a few ideas but nothing really jumped out at them and soon they were walking through the dark towards their homes. As they did so, a storm picked up which was good news for the competitions going on the next day, not so much for Juvia who had a lot further to go still and was already cold.

Gray could hear her teeth chattering before they had even reached his place and so he sighed, knowing he was going to regret this, and asked "Why don't you come in for a few minutes once we get to my place and warm up Juvia?" Juvia blushed, but for once her enthusiasm was low as she simply said "Thank you my darling Gray." Gray knew she must be cold if she didn't try latching onto him right away or do any type of jumping around so he felt that he had made the right decision.

Once they reached his house, he opened the door and motioned her in. He lit a fire and told her to warm up by it while he went to get some hot cocoa. As she waited for him to return, Juvia looked around. She had never been in his house before, at least not invited wise so she had never really paid attention to her surroundings.

On the mantel of the fireplace she was standing in front of was a picture of Gray, someone who was obviously Lyon and a lady she never recalled having met. When Gray returned with the hot cocoa, Juvia asked "Who is that lady with you and Lyon?" Gray looked at the picture she had motioned to and she watched a bittersweet smile cross his face before he replied "That's my Master, Ur. She died not long after that picture was taken." "I'm sorry." Juvia said.

"Thanks." Gray simply said, before turning to look outside the window with a frown, continuing with "It's getting worse out there. I don't think you'll make it to Fairy Hills tonight. You're welcome to stay here or I can take you to Lucy's if that would be more comfortable for you." Juvia barely held in a squeal as she thought "My darling Gray is asking me to stay over! Take that love rival!" Out loud she said "Here is good, I really don't want to go back out into that."

Gray sighed and said "I don't blame you. Come on, I'll show you where the bed is and I'll grab some extra blankets and come back out here." Later, as Juvia lay in Gray's bed trying to go to sleep, she kept trying to think about what they could sculpt the next day, but nothing came to mind. The next morning, however, the perfect thing hit her as they were eating breakfast. Gray sighed just then and said "I can't think of anything to do, so unless you got something, looks like I'll drop out of the competition."

"Gray, can more than one person work on the entry?" Juvia asked. Puzzled, Gray answered "Yeah, I saw a couple of people who were planning on working as teams, why?" "Then will you trust me to do the sculpting? I have an idea, but I need your help in both making the ice and posing." Juvia answered. Gray looked at her suspiciously and asked "You're not going to make it of me are you?" Juvia held up her hands in protest and said "No, I promise. I just need you to pose so I get it right." Gray looked at her and then nodded and said "Okay, I trust you."

XXX

The other entries either had already brought or made their own ice by the time they arrived at the park where they event was being held. "You just made it, we were about to start. Remember you have thirty minutes to carve." said the same man from the day before, recognizing Gray. Gray nodded, quickly making an ice block to Juvia's specifications. Juvia nodded and then said "I have one more thing to ask of you Gray. Will you please keep your eyes closed while I work? I don't want you to see what I am doing until I am done."

Gray hesitated only a second before nodding, to which Juvia smiled and said "Thank you, not get into your ice make pose." Gray looked at her questioningly, almost refusing as he was sure she was about to carve him, but held his tongue and did so before closing his eyes. Pulling something out of her coat, Juvia waited for the men to call a start to the competition before using her water to carve away at the ice, looking back and forth between what she had pulled out, Gray and the ice.

Minutes ticked past and Juvia worked as quickly as she could while trying to truly capture her subject. Suddenly she heard a voice call "Five minutes!" She nearly panicked, but she calmed herself as she said "You're almost done and you can finish this if you don't panic." Willing her hands not to shake, she finished with seconds to spare. "You can open your eyes, my love."

Gray did so, blinking at the brightness of the sun for a few seconds, before his eyes finally adjusted and he could see what Juvia had sculpted. He gasped, there stood Ur, almost so real looking that for a moment Gray half expected to hear her saying what she was about to ice make. Turning to Juvia with tears in his eyes, he said "It's perfect Juvia." The judges agreed, so stunned were they by its lifelikeness that they unanimously decided that it got first place and none of the other contest would have argued with that if they could.

Juvia smiled at Gray as she tried to hand him the prize money, but he refused saying "You did all the work Juvia." She frowned, but then counted some of it out before handing it to him and saying "You deserve half, Gray darling. After all you signed up for it and if it weren't for you posing I never could have got it right." Gray, after a few more words of persuasion from Juvia, begrudgingly accepted it as he asked "How did you get her likeness down so good?"

Juvia reached back into her coat and pulled out the picture that usually sat upon his mantel. "I borrowed this this morning and kept referring to it as I worked." Gray turned to look at the sculpture before gently reaching out and touching it with his hand. From the tips of his finger, his demon slayer ice spread out across the sculpture, ensuring that it would never melt. Once that was done, he put a plaque down in front of it and said "Sign this Juvia and call it whatever you want and then I will do the same to it. I want this to stand for as long as it can."

The water mage looked at him and asked "Are you sure Gray? I don't mind it being anonymous." Gray smiled to Juvia "Please Juvia. Its only fitting that you get the credit you deserve for making this. It makes it feel like my master is right here. Thank you for that." Juvia nodded, tears in her eyes as her forehead wrinkled in thought before she leaned over to both sign and name her creation. First she named it, but before signing it she said "I'll only sign it if you do."

Gray tried to deny his right to do so, but Juvia insisted. He finally agreed, though he didn't know that to Juvia this was just as powerful a display of their affection towards each other as carving their names into a tree, she figured she ought to keep that detail to herself until after he did so. As Gray signed in, he saw that Juvia had titled it Grand Ice Make Mage Ur. Gray smiled, loving that his old teacher had been carved, and now could be remembered by all, thanks to someone who, if he had to admit it, he was coming to care for.

**FTAnt's Idea: It's a Gray/Juvia one. Gray enters an ice sculpting competition figuring it'd be an easy one for him (incentive being the prize money) However he has trouble finding inspiration. Juvia offers to help and he (begrudgingly) accepts. At Gray's place they mull over some ideas (good comedic options like Juvia says a sculpture of Gray which he would obviously not want to) Juvia notices an old photo as time runs out and they have to run to the competition. On Juvia's request they get into the couples competition after Juvia asks Gray to trust her on it, he does so being that he does trust her. He makes a block of ice with his magic and Juvia, using her command of water, heats up the block to make a sculpture of Ur, Gray's old master in a signature ice make pose wowing the judges with its fine detail and fierce look of confidence, as well as wowing gray. Inspired, he seals the sculpture with his demon slaying ice to stay there forever, adding a signed block in front of it with a blank space for Juvia to sign. She could be a little shy or unsure about it but Gray gives her the ok which is impactful for the progression of their relationship**

**I decided I was going to try to write/upload a short story every day this month with possibly something special on the 29th (leap year ya'll!), so if you have a story idea that you think can be done in 1-2k words or less (might take a few that will last longer as well) then please feel free to share them. If I use your idea, you will get credit.**

**It doesn't have to be Fairy Tail, you can look at my profile for other fandoms I have written for, though I would say my other strong one is Star Wars (both movies and tv shows being my strong suit in that category, with some of the game characters of older games being my other). But if you don't see that I have written one for a fandom you like, don't be afraid to ask if I can do them, it could just be I never wrote for them :D**

**I don't write Yuri/Yaoi and the furthest I'll write into a relationship is kissing/hugging (meaning I don't write lemons), but other than that I'm pretty open to anything, though I have my favorite pairs I might be able to be convinced to do other ones, like I still owe I Live FairyTail a Cobra X Lucy story for instance. So yeah, if you feel like it, throw me an idea or two and you might just see it uploaded :D**


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